


The things we left unsaid

by mynesy



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Denial, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:25:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6755863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynesy/pseuds/mynesy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deny, deny, deny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The things we left unsaid

Pepper had been with Tony for far too long to not be familiar with his mannerisms, and to instinctively know when something was wrong. She wouldn't have lasted as long as she had as his personal assistant if she hadn’t been able to deal with his numerous eccentricities.

What she knew of Tony Stark at the beginning of it all was more or less what the public knew of Tony Stark - and most of his life appeared to be an open book. When she had started the job at Stark Industries, she knew the bare minimum about the billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, although at the time he was more playboy and weapon designer than anything. She had been attracted to him, sure, but wanted to keep her professional career a long one and was smarter than to mix business with pleasure. So she kept the attraction to herself, and never admitted it to anyone although Tony kept trying to get her to confirm it otherwise.

Despite her best intentions, Pepper was still that slight romantic at heart. She fell for Tony despite all the faults that eventually showed themselves to her over the years. It had been somewhere in between the countless nights where she had had to bail him out of another drunken debacle, being woken up at strange times of the day to cater to his strange whims, and getting up in the morning to escort his one-night stands off of the premises (which affectionately ended up being nicknamed, “taking out the trash”). He became this person that was no longer just the public persona that he put on, and she came to appreciate that about him despite how often she became frustrated and exasperated. Genuinely caring about this man was something that had taken her by surprise, but it certainly wasn’t something she couldn’t handle.

Falling for him on the other hand, had never been in the plans for Pepper.

It had been a year after the anniversary of Afghanistan. A year since Tony had been found in the desert with a glorified battery in his chest to keep him alive. Pepper had a mind for dates, and today was something she hadn’t overlooked. It seemed like Tony was over it for a lack of a better word however, but despite that Pepper saw that something was distinctly off that day when she arrived at his mansion. 

He still flirted - still greeted her with that devil-may-care smile but Pepper couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong. She knew what day it was, knew what had happened on that day, and worry immediately began to trickle through her body. It was normal for post traumatic stress syndrome to occur, but Tony treated it with how he would a common cold: denial. She could pester him and mother hen him all she wanted, but Tony was stubborn and evaded her efforts. So, being the ever-dutiful assistant (and she told herself to stress that title), she said nothing and kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t going to allow her feelings for the man to get in the way of her job – she had long resolved that after the night that he had left her on the rooftop. Caring was one thing but affection was something she couldn’t allow herself.

But that night she had ended up working late and just as she headed down into the workshop to tell Tony that she was going to be leaving for the night, she paused outside the door. It was normally lit up even at this time of the night (she suspected that this was still ‘early’ for Tony) but instead, the only lights that could be seen were the soft blues of the HUD screens and the lone blue light glowing from Tony’s chest. It illuminated his face, showing the lines of thought and worry that he normally didn’t allow people to see. Pepper could barely make out what was on the screens – files it looked like and a picture of an elderly man who was wearing glasses that she wasn’t familiar with. She stood there a moment watching and unconsciously taking in the lonely image of him, not noticing how the image made her heart ache.

Pepper snapped herself out of it long enough to silently enter her passcode and enter the workshop. As soon as she did, the lights flickered on and as she suspected, the HUD screens disappeared allowing Tony to turn to look at her as if nothing were wrong.

“Going home?”

She shouldn’t have said anything in hindsight but she had been concerned and it had been written all over her face so that he could see it. He could tell that she was going to inquire, ask what was on the HUD screens but he didn’t want her to. He didn’t want anyone to.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked, ignoring his question.

“Peachy, Pep.” The red head seemed unconvinced.

“But you were…”

“Just looking over some old files.”

“I know what day it is.”

Silence filled the workshop and the two regarded each other. One with eyes that were filled to the brim with concern and worry while the other looked back defiantly, trying to hold back the trauma and ghosts that were afflicting him. The man looked away finally, trying his best to look uninterested.

“Pepper, I’m fine. It was a year ago.”

“But you never spoke about it,” she started, her voice rising out of habit when he denied, denied, denied. Pepper tried taking steps towards him, tried to reach out and for a moment, letting her emotions get the better of her. “I’m not saying you should talk about it to me but it would _help_ if you -,”

“But I don’t want to!” His voice cut like a knife and Pepper flinched, her hand quickly snapping back to her body as reality raced back. Hurt reached across her face and she could feel her heart breaking for this man that would probably never realize or return the affection and care she felt for him. She would have thrown back at him how childish he sounded in that moment but she was too hurt, too worried to feel any kind of anger. The anger that had been in Tony’s body rushed out as soon as he saw that and he looked away from her, “There’s nothing to talk about because I’m over it. I’m fine.”

Silence.

Pepper took an intake of breath and Tony kept a steady gaze anywhere but at her. After a moment of her gathering herself and packing her emotions back into its neat little box, she nodded.

“I’ll be leaving for the night. You have a meeting tomorrow in New York at 3PM so the jet will be leaving at 9AM which means Happy will be here at 8AM. Try not to be late.” Pepper didn’t bother to wait for an answer and instead turned on her heel to go, leaving Tony to stare at the hurt that was written across her usually proud back.

It was one of the few times in the years that she had been under his employment that they had ever come close to being so raw and exposed to each other. It was only another reminder to Pepper that she had to remember her place and her position. She was not Tony Stark’s lover or girlfriend or whatever other names society used to define and label the kind of things she felt and did for him. She was merely Virginia “Pepper” Potts, personal assistant to the world’s billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

And because she was only his personal assistant, when tomorrow came, the two would act like nothing had happened, and that whatever feelings had been hurt had never even seen the light of day. She would come to the house and try to drag Tony out of bed to get him showered or at the very least presentable for the day ahead. She would threaten or bribe him with coffee or lack of it until he stumbled into the car to be whisked away to his private jet and to New York. She would give him the run down of the itinerary for the day, brief him shortly on the meeting even though he wouldn’t listen anyway and, _no, Tony we are not going to stop for a burger this early in the morning_ , and they would bicker and banter like nothing had gone wrong.

The incident would be filed as ‘never happened’ and it would stay that way until either one (Pepper) found the nerve to probe at it again. They would pretend that the care (and affection) that she allowed to shine through that night didn't actually exist. But most importantly, they would pretend that both she and Tony truly believed that he was ‘fine’.


End file.
